Real participation builds authentic partnerships

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/12/2021 (1721 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IN 1979, seven inner-city school parent councils came together with a funding proposal to United Way Winnipeg for the formation of the Community Education Development Association (CEDA), a non-profit community organization that would provide a voice for inner-city parents, residents and community groups to address education and social development issues.

Forty-two years later, United Way continues to provide this long-term funding support for CEDA to help communities to help themselves.

Over the years, CEDA has worked with institutions, such as school divisions and the department of education, to promote the development of authentic partnerships to improve the quality of life for inner-city students and families.

Institutions have strengths and limitations, with an institutional culture that involves their own worldview, values, experience, knowledge, practices and resources. Community-based organizations also have strengths and limitations; they, too, have a community culture based on everyday people having a chance of influencing the outcome of a decision.

At the bottom of the ladder are two rungs of “non-participation.” At the very bottom, “manipulation” involves absolute deception — doing surveys or holding meetings specifically designed to fulfil participation requirements, but with no genuine desire on the part of those in power to incorporate community priorities into the decision-making process.

Manitoba’s Bill 64 (the Education Modernization Act) is a good example; the K-12 Review commission provided the illusion of participation in order for the government to implement a preconceived agenda. This has created a great deal of skepticism and distrust in the community.

The next of the ladder’s non-participation rungs is “therapy” — this involves those in power using citizen participation in a misleading way, to disguise the real intention of modifying the behaviour of oppressed peoples. This is often connected to what author John McKnight has described as a deficit-based, rather than strength-based, approach to individual and community well-being.

McKnight maintains that the institutional culture within which professionals work communicates a worldview that defines our lives and societies as a series of technical problems. The sum of these disabling characteristics is an ideology that converts citizens to clients, communities to deficient individuals, and politics to a self-serving debate among professionals over which service system should have a larger share of public resources.

The next three steps, “degrees of tokenism,” involve more honest but still inadequate forms of participation. First is “informing” — those who have power have made a decision, and they are providing a one-way flow of information about that decision.

The next step up is “consultation,” in which surveys and public meetings are held to gather citizens’ views and priorities, but there is no guarantee the input will be heard or will actually make a difference.

Another step up is “placation” — small amounts of resources are offered to community groups to address monumental challenges, rather than meaningful change in power relations and the distribution of resources.

At the top three rungs of Arnstein’s ladder, citizens begin to exercise real power and influence. In “partnership,” citizens and power-holders negotiate joint structures to address community priorities. As an example, the Ma Mawi Wi Chitata Centre, Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad and CEDA have formed the Indigenous Education Caring Society, which is working in partnership with the Winnipeg School Division’s off-campus program for Indigenous students who are not getting their educational needs met by existing neighbourhood schools.

A step up is “delegated power” — the community owns and operates services that co-deliver programs. For many years, an innovative example of this involves the Little Red Spirit head-start program that supplements the half-day nursery and kindergarten programs at the WSD’s Dufferin School with an Indigenous culturally-based early childhood program. This collaboration provides full-day early childhood services to families in this community.

At the very top of the ladder is “citizen control” — the strong message sent by citizens about the importance of locally elected school boards, resulting in the withdrawal of Bill 64, is an example of the broad support for protecting local democracy in our province.

There is a lot of talk about community consultation these days. Working toward meaningful change requires that further knowledge and capacity be developed about what is real citizen participation, in order to build authentic community partnerships.

Tom Simms is co-director of the Community Education Development Association (CEDA).